According to the information released by auto industry and foreign media, for the first time, Geely topped the export sales list of self-owned car brands this July, keeping a rapid growth while the export of Chinese cars increased slowly on the whole.

Geely tops the export sales list

Information from Zhejiang Geely Holding Group shows that Geely has exported 12,420 cars in July, topping the export sales list of indigenous auto brands for the first time. From this January to July, Geely's sales volume in overseas market added up to 62,861 units, a year-on-year increase of 27 percent.

In the first seven months of 2013, Geely has exported 16,686 vehicles to Russia and 9,159 vehicles to Ukraine, making the two countries become two largest overseas markets for Geely this year. Currently, Geely is focusing on expanding its overseas market in Eastern Europe, Middle East, Africa and South America.

Among Geely's sub-brands, Emgrand created the highest export volume, with 35,559 units being exported in the first seven months. Meanwhile, the Emgrand EC7 sold the best with an export volume of 32,342 units in the first seven months, a year-on-year growth of 126 percent, and successfully doubling the sales.

In addition, on August 2, 2013, Geely Emgrand was accredited by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ), becoming China's first auto brand that is exempted from export inspection. Meanwhile, Geely became the first automaker in Zhejiang Province to enjoy the exemption from export inspection.

Li Donghui, Geely's Chief Financial Officer (CFO), said, "In recent years, Geely has made considerable progress in overseas market. Geely is committed to creating the largest export volume in China's auto industry and is very confident in its rapid development in overseas market in the future."

Sales grow rapidly in Russia

Geely gives high priority to its expansion in Eastern Europe. When the entire auto market in Russia is suffering from a depression, most of the major Chinese auto enterprises which export cars to Russia maintained a robust sales growth, especially Geely Automobile, Lifan Motors and Great Wall Motors. Geely continues leading Chinese automakers to push into Russian market, achieving the largest monthly sales with the fastest increase.

In July 2013, Geely sold 2,773 vehicles in Russia, a year-on-year increase of 61.1 percent over last July's 1,721 units. From this May, Geely has achieved the largest sales volume in Russia among all the Chinese automakers for three months continuously. From this January to July, Geely's total sales volume has reached 14,474 units, a rapid growth of 81.3 percent over last year's 7,984 units.

In July, Li Shufu, Chairman of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, and Dzmitry Katerynich, Minister of Belarus's Ministry of Industry, formally signed an agreement on establishing a large automobile assembly joint venture. Under the agreement, Geely Group, together with BELAZ Corporation, the world's second largest mining machinery enterprise headquartered in Belarus, and SOYUZ Corporation, Belarus's national parts production joint venture, will jointly establish a subsidiary joint-stock company named Geely (Belarus) Automobile Co., Ltd., responsible for Geely's car production in Belarus.

Located in the Minsk Industry Park in Borisov, Belarus, the manufacturing plant of this joint venture is under construction. In the near future, Geely will build workshops for stamping, welding and coating in the Industry Park and carry out the completely knocked down (CKD) production, realizing the goal that over 50 percent of cars are produced locally, in correspondence with the agreement signed between the two countries.

This joint project is designed to produce 120,000 vehicles annually. The plant will initially produce four existing Geely models including the SUV GX7, the SC7, the SC5 and the Panda CROSS with parts and components imported from China. On that basis, it will further expand its production capacity as well as enrich its product line. Currently, the plant has already begun to try assembling the SC7 compact cars and will further produce the GX7 within the year. The market of these cars is to cover the entire CIS market, including Russia and Ukraine.